Washing or dyeing machine



Feb. 6, 1962 J. FLEISSNER ETAL 3,019,630

WASHING OR DYEING MACHINE Filed Oct. 16, 1959 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Eyz INVEN TORS J/vam 1 7 Was/Yer fiero/dflel'ssner 4M Kw MM ATTORNEYJ Feb. 6,1962 J. FLEISSNER ET AL WASHING 0R DYEING MACHINE 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 FiledOct. 16, 1959 INVENTORS Johann F/GZSSHQP Gem/0' Fleas/14v United StatesPatent Qfiice wisest Patented Feb. 6, 1362 3,019,630 WASHING R DYEINGMACHINE Johann Fleissner and Ger-old Fleissner, Egelsbach, Germany,assignors to Fleissner & Sohn Maschinenfabrik, Egelsbach, near Frankfurtam Main, Germany Filed Oct. 16, 1959, Ser. No. 853,434 Claims priority,application Germany Aug. 31, 1955 2 Claims. (Cl. 68-158) This inventionrelates to washing and dyeing machines and, in particular, is directedto a machine for the washing or dyeing of loose fibers in the form ofbats or fleece, fiber bands, rope yarns and the like.

Washing machines are known, such as shown in Hanhart U.S. Patent No.1,794,403, in which a perforated washing drum is substantially immersedin a tank of liquid and a woven textile drawn around the surface of thedrum, with the liquid being drawn through the fabric into the drum bymeans of a pump producing a flow of liquid in the tank. Such priorstructure is adapted to wash fabrics having sufficient tensile strengthso that they can be pulled around the drum, but are not able to holdloose fibers or fleece upon the surface of the drum.

The object of this invention is to produce a machine for washing loosefibers or fleece in which means are provided for holding the material onthe surface of the drum.

In general, these objects are accomplished by substantially immersing arotatable perforated drum in a tank of fluid. A suction is produced inthe tank by a pump. The loose material is led to an upper portion of adrum and taken from the drum at an adjacent upper portion, with thespace between the two portions being closed ed by a cover plate.Consequently, the entire suction produced by the pump is effective overthe entire surface of the drum contacted by the loose material, and thissuction is sufiicient to hold the loose material on the surface of thedrum during its transit from the ingress to the egress point from thedrum. The liquid taken from the drum is cleaned, added to if necessary,and then recirculated into various portions in the tank around the drumso that the fresh liquid is substantially uniformly applied to all ofthe material being carried on the surface of the drum.

The means by which the objects of the invention are obtained are shownmore fully with respect to the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIGURE 1 is a vertical cross-sectional view through the washing machineof this invention;

FIGURE 2 is a cross-sectional view on the line 2-2 of FIGURE 1;

FIGURE 3 is an enlarged detail view of a portion of FIGURE 1; and

FIGURE 4 is a cross-sectional view similar to FIG- URE 1 of a modifiedform of the machine.

As shown in FIGURE 1, the tank has a perforated drum 12 rotatablymounted therein so that the surface of the tank either lies below or thetank is substantially immersed below the surface 13 of the liquid withinthe tank. The loose fiber material 14 is fed to the drum over an endlessconveyor belt 16, the outlet end roller 18 of which is positionedadjacent the uppermost portion of drum 12. The material, after passingaround beneath the drum, is removed by a discharge conveyor 20 havingits inlet roller 22 positioned adjacent a second portion of the upperpart of the drum. The material is discharged over roller 23. The linetangent at the point 24 between roller 18 and drum 12 and the linetangent at the point 26 between roller 22 and drum 12' are each,respectively, located beneath the surface level 13 of the liquid in thetank. Between rollers 18 and 22 is a third roller 28 which assists indirecting the loose material 14 from conveyor 16 onto drum 12 andassists in removing the washed loose material from the drum ontoconveyor 20. Beneath roller 28 and extending between lines tangent atthe points 24 and 26, respectively, is a cover plate 30 which forms aseal against the entrance of liquid or air between these tangent lines.

As shown in FIGURE 2, drum 12 is rotated by any suitable means, such asthrough a gear 32 driven from any suitable motor source through shaft34. The blades 36 of a pump driven by motor M constitute a suction pumpfor withdrawing water from the interior of drum 12 in the direction ofthe arrows as shown. This liquid is led through a filter 38 to becleaned and has make-up, fresh liquid added thereto, if desired, throughpipe 40. This make-up liquid may be preheated or the liquid heatedduring the filtering and cleaning thereof by means of the heater H. Theforce of the pump circulates the liquid through pipe 42 back to the fourpipes 43, 44, 45, and 46 symmetrically arranged about drum 12. Thesepipes are perforated throughout their lengths in the direction of drum12 so that the liquid discharged therefrom is substantially uniformlyapplied over the surface of the drum covered by the material 14.

In the modification shown in FIGURE 4, the roller 28 of FIGURE 1 isreplaced by a porous conveyor belt 50 which extends continuously aroundthe tension roller 52 and the drum 12. Roller 52 is tensioned by meansof springs, weights, or other means so that sufficient distance existsbetween belt 50 and rollers 18 and 22 for the passage of the material14'.

In each of FIGURES 1 and 4, the material remains on the surface of drum12 between the ingress line tangent at the point 24 and the egress linetangent at the point 26 over a distance of some 320. The suction pumpcreates a differential pressure between the exterior and the interior ofthe drum so that the liquid is drawn through the material on the drumand held upon the drum by the force of the liquid flowing through thematerial. Suflicient difiierential pressure and suction to hold thematerial on the surface of the drum is possible by reason of the cover30 which prevents the entrance of air or water through the area of lessresistance between lines 24 and 26. Without this seal provided by thecover 30, there would not be sufiicient suction within the drum to holdthe loose material 14 which lacks any tensile strength upon the surfaceof the drum as the drum is: rotated between the ingress and egresspoints of the machine. Thus the full force of the pump is applied on thematerial being washed.

This application is a continuation-in-part of our abandoned applicationSerial No. 587,717, filed May 28, 1956, for Washing or Dyeing Machine.

Having now described the means by which the objects of the invention areobtained, we claim:

1. In a fibrous material washing machine having a liquid container, aperforated washing drum rotatably mounted on its horizontal axis withinsaid container and adapted to be substantially submerged below thewashing liquid surface level to be maintained in said container, firstconveyor means for feeding unwoven fibrous material to an ingress pointto be borne on the revolving surface of said drum for movement beneathsaid drum, said ingress point lying just below the surface to bemaintained for the level of the washing liquid, second conveyor meansfor removing said material from said drum at an egress point on therevolving surface of said drum, said egress point lying just below thesurface to be maintained for the level of the washing liquid, saidsecond conveyor means being positioned opposite to the said firstconveyor means across the top of said drum, pump means for withdrawingwashing liquid from the interior of said drum to form a differentialpressure between the exterior and interior of said drum for drawing saidliquid from said container through said material borne on the submergedportions of said drum into said drum and thereby firmly holding saidborne material on the said drum as the said drum r0- tates through themajor portion of a single revolution to move said material from saidfirst to said second conveyor means, and liquid supplying tube meanshaving a perforated outlet within said container and joined to said pumpmeans for recirculating the said withdrawn liquid substantiallyuniformly against the submerged surface portions of said Washing drum,the improvement comprising a liquid and air excluding cover positionedwithin said drum on a circumferential surface adjacent to the uppermostportion of said drum, the ends of said cover lying beneath the level tobe maintained for said liquid substantially submerging said drum Whilesimultaneously being positioned respectively adjacent the said points ofingress and egress of said fibrous material on said drum whereby asubstantially increased suction efiect is achieved by the action of saidpump which said efiect is continuously maintained during the contact ofsaid fibrous mate- 4 rial on said drum by increased diiferentialpressure over the fibrous material covered surface of said drum.

2. A fibrous material washing machine as in claim 1, comprising anendless porous belt embracing the perforated Washing drum, and rollermeans mounted above said drum to tension said porous belt, said porousbelt being adapted to feed the material onto said drum and remove thematerial from the said drum.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS252,365 Ferguson Jan. 17, 1882 395,498 vLund Jan. 1, 1889 721,630Willard Feb. 24, 1903 1,432,319 Brandwood Oct. 17, 1922 1,914,599 HayesJune 20, '1933 2,087,775 Matthews July 20, 1937 2,332,346 RowlandsonOct. 19, 1943

